The short answer
If a past conviction has made you criminally inadmissible to Canada under section 36 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (A36), there are three published routes back: deemed rehabilitation (time alone clears you, but only for lesser offences), individual rehabilitation (you apply and IRCC decides, and you can only apply once five years have passed since your sentence ended), or a Temporary Resident Permit (a TRP under A24(1), which can be requested at any time — even soon after a conviction).
Which route is open to you depends mostly on one thing: what the Canadian equivalent of your offence is, and what maximum penalty that Canadian offence carries. Not the sentence you actually received abroad — the maximum written in the Canadian statute. That single fact decides whether time can ever clear your file on its own.
Please read this as general information about how the process works, not as legal advice. Criminal inadmissibility decisions turn on the exact facts of your case, and the consequences of getting it wrong are serious. For anything borderline, speak to a licensed Canadian immigration lawyer or an RCIC.
Key takeaways
- A36(1) serious criminality applies when the Canadian equivalent offence carries a maximum of 10 years or more. Deemed rehabilitation is not available in these cases.
- A36(2) criminality covers lesser offences and applies to foreign nationals. Deemed rehabilitation may apply 10 years after the sentence is fully completed for one indictable-equivalent offence, or 5 years for two or more summary-equivalent offences (IRPR s.18), provided the other conditions in that section are also met.
- Individual rehabilitation can only be applied for once five years have passed since every part of your sentence ended — jail, probation, fines, driving prohibition.
- A TRP is usually the only option inside that five-year window. It is discretionary: the officer must be satisfied that your need to enter Canada is justified in the circumstances. Nobody can promise you one.
- Never hide a conviction to get around A36. An undeclared conviction can turn a solvable problem into A40 misrepresentation, which normally carries a five-year inadmissibility.
- Your refusal letter rarely explains the officer's equivalency reasoning. The CAIPS/GCMS notes often do.
What A36 actually says, in plain English
Under section 11(1) of IRPA, a foreign national must satisfy an officer that they are not inadmissible before a visa is issued. Section 36 is the criminality part of that test, and it has two levels.
A36(1) — serious criminality
The most common trigger for applicants outside Canada is A36(1)(b): you were convicted outside Canada of an offence that, if committed in Canada, would be punishable by a maximum term of at least 10 years. A36(1)(c) goes further and covers committing an act outside Canada that was an offence where it happened and would, in Canada, carry that same 10-year maximum.
Two points people often miss. First, the sentence you actually served is largely irrelevant at this stage — a suspended sentence, a small fine or a fully served short jail term can all trigger A36(1) if the Canadian maximum reaches 10 years. Second, this level of inadmissibility does not expire on its own.
A36(2) — criminality
A36(2) applies to foreign nationals (not to permanent residents). Under A36(2)(b) it covers a conviction abroad for something that would be an indictable offence in Canada below the 10-year threshold, or two or more convictions not arising from a single occurrence that would be offences under an Act of Parliament. Two separate shoplifting convictions from different years, for example, can make you inadmissible even where one alone would not.
One technical point catches many applicants. Under A36(3)(a), Canadian hybrid offences — those a Crown prosecutor may pursue either summarily or by indictment — are treated as indictable for immigration purposes. A great many everyday Canadian offences are hybrid, so "it was only a minor matter at home" is often not how the file is assessed.
Choosing your route
Deemed rehabilitation: time does the work
Deemed rehabilitation is set out in section 18 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR). You do not file an application for it. You simply become admissible again once enough time has passed and the conditions are met, and an officer confirms this when you apply for a visa or permit.
The two common scenarios are:
- One conviction abroad equivalent to a Canadian indictable offence with a maximum below 10 years — normally cleared 10 years after the sentence is completed.
- Two or more convictions abroad equivalent to Canadian summary conviction offences — normally cleared 5 years after the sentences are served.
IRPR s.18 also sets conditions that must hold at the same time, for example that you have no subsequent convictions and no relevant convictions in Canada. So the time period alone is not always enough.
The phrase that trips people up is "sentence completed". It does not mean the date of conviction, and it does not mean the day you walked out of custody. It means the date the last element ended — the final instalment of a fine, the last day of probation, the end of a driving prohibition. Applicants regularly count from the wrong date and are refused for applying too early. Before you count, put the court order in front of you and list every condition it imposed with its end date.
The most important limitation, again: if the Canadian equivalent carries a maximum of 10 years or more, deemed rehabilitation is not available, no matter how many decades have passed. Deemed rehabilitation also does not apply to convictions that happened inside Canada — for those, a Canadian record suspension is the route.
Individual rehabilitation: you apply, IRCC decides
Individual rehabilitation is the permanent fix for a foreign conviction. Once approved, that inadmissibility is cleared and you no longer need a permit because of those offences. You may apply once five years have passed since all sentence terms were completed (or, for an act rather than a conviction, five years since the act).
The application goes to the visa office responsible for your region. Build it properly. In most cases you will need:
- Certified court records and the judgment for every charge, with certified English or French translations.
- Police certificates from every country where you have lived six months or more since the age of 18.
- The actual text of the foreign law you were convicted under, including the penalty section — this is what the officer compares against the Canadian Criminal Code.
- Proof that every part of the sentence is finished: fine receipts, probation discharge letter, prohibition expiry.
- A personal statement explaining what happened, what you have changed, and what your life looks like now.
- Supporting evidence of stability — employment record, education, family responsibilities, community involvement, any counselling or treatment completed.
Officers are looking for evidence that the conduct was out of character and that you are unlikely to reoffend. Vague regret is not evidence; documents are.
Fees are set separately for criminality and serious criminality, and the serious criminality fee is substantially higher. Fees are revised from time to time, so check IRCC's current fee schedule on the day you pay rather than relying on a figure in any article. Processing commonly runs a year or longer and varies a great deal by visa office, so plan your life around the decision, not around a travel date.
The Temporary Resident Permit
A TRP is issued under A24(1) and is normally the only door open in the first five years. The officer must be satisfied that your entry is justified in the circumstances — in practice, weighing your need to come against any risk to Canadians. It is entirely discretionary. There is no entitlement, no guaranteed outcome, and anyone who promises you a TRP is not being straight with you.
A TRP may be issued for a period as short as a single day and up to three years, and may be single-entry or multiple-entry. It can also be cancelled by an officer at any time, and a border officer still makes the final decision on entry.
One practical point for applicants from India and other visa-required countries: you generally cannot simply arrive at a Canadian port of entry and request a TRP the way a visa-exempt traveller sometimes can. You normally apply from outside Canada, alongside your temporary resident visa, work permit or study permit application.
What tends to make a TRP request persuasive is a concrete, documented reason to travel now — a signed employment contract, a conference invitation with your name on it, a family medical emergency with hospital documents, a confirmed study offer with fees paid — paired with a frank account of the offence, evidence of how you have lived since, and proof of ties that will bring you home when the permit expires.
Comparing the three routes
| Route | When available | Effect | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deemed rehabilitation | 10 years (single indictable-equivalent) or 5 years (multiple summary-equivalents) after sentence completion, if IRPR s.18 conditions are met; not available for A36(1) | No application; confirmed by the officer at visa stage | Older, lower-level convictions |
| Individual rehabilitation | 5 or more years after every sentence term ends | Permanent clearance of that inadmissibility, if approved | Anyone planning to work, study or settle in Canada long term |
| TRP | Any time, including within the 5-year window | Temporary entry only; up to 3 years; discretionary and revocable | Urgent or time-bound travel before rehabilitation is possible |
Impaired driving: the rule that changed
On 18 December 2018, Canada raised the maximum penalty for impaired driving offences to 10 years. The immigration consequence is significant: impaired driving now generally sits on the A36(1) serious criminality side, which removes deemed rehabilitation from the table. IRCC's published guidance treats the change as applying to offences committed on or after that date, so conduct from before 18 December 2018 may still be assessed against the earlier maximum. The date on the charge sheet therefore matters a great deal. If a DUI is your issue, this is one to review with a licensed representative before you choose a route.
Never solve A36 by staying quiet
It is tempting to leave a decade-old conviction off the form, especially if it was expunged or pardoned at home. Please do not. Foreign pardons and expungements do not automatically clear inadmissibility in Canada — IRCC assesses the foreign process against Canadian standards, and the outcome varies by country.
Meanwhile, an undeclared conviction that comes to light later can engage A40 misrepresentation, which normally carries a five-year inadmissibility and sits on your immigration record afterwards. Criminal inadmissibility is a problem with three published solutions. Misrepresentation does not have an equivalent set of remedies, and it makes every future application harder.
Find out what the officer actually wrote
Refusal letters on criminality are usually a ticked box and a paragraph of statute. They rarely tell you the thing you most need to know: which Canadian offence the officer treated as the equivalent, whether the file was assessed under A36(1) or A36(2), which sentence-completion date was used, and whether criminality was the only concern or one of several.
That reasoning sits in the officer's notes. Through an official ATIP request we obtain your CAIPS/GCMS notes from IRCC, so you can read the equivalency analysis, the dates the officer relied on, and any other grounds recorded alongside. You can view a redacted sample to see exactly what arrives. Our Tier 3 service adds a written plain-English interpretation of what the notes mean for your next step. Notes are delivered in 25–30 days.
If your refusal letter is in front of you right now, start with the free Refusal Engine on our homepage — upload the letter and see the grounds the officer cited, at no cost. Then browse our guides for the wider refusal picture.
Frequently asked questions
Can I apply for a TRP and individual rehabilitation at the same time?
Yes, and it is often sensible if you are already past the five-year mark but need to travel before the rehabilitation decision arrives. The TRP covers the interim trip; the rehabilitation application aims to resolve the inadmissibility permanently. They are assessed separately, and approval of one does not guarantee the other.
My charge was dropped, or I was acquitted. Am I still inadmissible?
A withdrawn charge or an acquittal does not create inadmissibility under A36(1)(b) or A36(2)(b), because those provisions turn on convictions. However, A36(1)(c) and A36(2)(c) deal with committing an act outside Canada that was an offence there and would be a serious or indictable offence in Canada — so "no conviction" does not always end the analysis. Discharges and similar outcomes are assessed on what the foreign disposition actually amounts to. Declare the history honestly, provide the court documents, and let the officer assess it.
Does a Canadian record suspension (pardon) clear my inadmissibility?
A record suspension granted by the Parole Board of Canada deals with Canadian convictions. For foreign convictions, a pardon or expungement obtained abroad is reviewed on its merits — IRCC considers whether the foreign process is broadly equivalent to Canada's. Some are accepted; others are not. This genuinely varies by country and by case, so do not assume either way.
How do I work out the Canadian equivalent of my offence?
You compare the essential elements of the foreign offence you were convicted of with the closest offence in the Canadian Criminal Code or another federal Act, then look up that offence's maximum penalty. Work from the wording of both statutes, not from the offence name — names rarely match across countries. This is technical work, and getting it wrong changes your entire strategy. For anything near the 10-year line, have a licensed Canadian immigration lawyer or an RCIC do the equivalency analysis.
Was I refused only because of the conviction?
Not necessarily. Criminality is often recorded alongside other concerns, such as doubts about ties to your home country or about documents. The refusal letter may show only one ground. The officer's notes usually show the full picture, which matters because clearing the criminality alone may not be enough for the next application to succeed.
Where to start
Criminal inadmissibility is one of the few refusal grounds with a clear, published road back — but only if you know which section you were assessed under and from which date your clock is running. Get the officer's own words first, confirm the equivalency and the sentence-completion date, then choose the route.
Ready to see the file behind your refusal? Order your CAIPS/GCMS notes from CAIPS Notes Apply, run by Pro Lifeset Overseas Pvt. Ltd., a government-licensed Indian immigration consultancy (Licence No. 849/DC/PTA/PLA/LC-3/2024) based in Patiala, Punjab. Tiers start at ₹2,500 (+18% GST), delivered in 25–30 days. Questions first? Read the FAQ or get in touch.
This article is general information about Canadian immigration procedure. It is not legal advice, and we are not a Canadian law firm. Criminal inadmissibility, misrepresentation and judicial review all turn on the specific facts of a case and on law that changes over time — for complex or borderline matters, and before any court deadline, consult a licensed Canadian immigration lawyer or an RCIC.